Do You Have One of New Jersey’s Smallest Feathered Friends in Your Backyard?

Beautiful things sometimes come in the smallest packages and that's just what we have here in New Jersey. Do you have these tiny feathered friends in your backyard? You might not even know they are there.

Get our free mobile app

They are very small, somewhat quiet, very fast, and very shy. I am talking about one of the smallest birds around the state, the hummingbird. Often you will have them in your backyard and maybe you don't even notice, or maybe you thought it was a bug because of how fast and darting this bird can be.

Have you ever had the chance to see one up close? and not moving about so fast? Maybe not, and if you want to take photos of your hummingbirds you will need a very fast shutter speed to capture them properly. I like trying to get pics of these tiny treasures, but I always think I could have done better, but it's hard because they move so fast and you never know when they will pop up.

I actually used my phone to play hummingbird calls to try to attract the fast-flying bird and sat patiently with my camera (Nikon) set on a fast shutter speed. After playing occasional hummingbird calls on my phone I spotted a female Ruby-throated Hummingbird enter our garden. Coincidence? maybe but maybe the bird calls do attract birds. As soon as I spotted Mrs. Hummingbird I sat quietly in the garden and I began snapping away to get just a few halfway decent photos of the hummingbird.

I have included several photos I thought were ok and I hope you enjoy seeing the hummingbird up close. One of the few "green birds" you will see. The male has a ruby red throat, the female does not. This hummingbird is sometimes confused with the Black-chinned Hummingbird, which is very similar.

Do you have hummingbirds in your backyard? Have pics? Share your photos below.